Intel 2.21 X.Org Driver Brings Notable Features

After releasing nearly two dozen point releases in the xf86-video-intel 2.20.x series, the xf86-video-intel 2.21 X.Org driver was christened on Friday. There's a few notable additions to this 2.21 Intel open-source driver update for Intel hardware Linux customers.

The xf86-video-intel 2.21.0 features include:

- Enabling RENDER acceleration for Haswell GT1 and GT2 graphics -- the initial graphics processors to be found with the first shipping Haswell CPUs in the coming months.

- Multi-threaded rasterization of trapezoids and fallback composition.

- Support for using a new kernel interface that will be presented in the Linux 3.9 kernel. The new Intel DRM interface to be exposed in the next kernel merge window is about better processing relocations.

The xf86-video-intel 2.20 driver was released in July of last year and among the features that were introduced as point release items beyond just bug-fixes include PRIME support for GPU hot-plugging / hybrid systems, Ivy Bridge GT1 (HD 2500) support, stable i830/i845GM support, and other random work. There also continues to be a lot of work done to SNA, Intel's 2D "Sandy Bridge New Acceleration" architecture that is very promising but hasn't yet been made the default over UXA 2D acceleration.

The xf86-video-intel 2.21.0 release announcement by Chris Wilson can be read on the xorg-announce list. The Intel DDX driver continues to be developed almost exclusively by Chris at Intel's Open-Source Technology Center. Aside from doing most of the 2.20.x work, he's responsible for all 74 commits making up this first 2.21 release.